The Age of Exploration Meets the Era of Disillusionment
Thursday, May 16 2024
I have been reading Hampton Sides’ excellent new study of Captain James Cook’s third voyage (1776-1779), The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and The Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook.
- Published in Books
Reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich While Traveling With Charley
Monday, May 13 2024
Clay visits Cedar Rapids, Iowa, boyhood home of pioneering journalist and author William Shirer, who later became friends with John Steinbeck.
- Published in Features
Resilience and Heart in Lewiston, Maine
Monday, May 13 2024
Clay’s visits the recently reopened Just-In-Time recreation center in Lewiston, Maine.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Stop at Thoreau’s Walden Pond Near Concord, Massachusetts
Sunday, May 12 2024
Clay stops to visit Thoreau’s Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts as part of his Travels with Charley road trip.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Visiting John Steinbeck’s Home in Sag Harbor, New York — Video Dispatch
Thursday, May 09 2024
Clay visits John Steinbeck’s Sag Harbor home where the noted author began his 1960 cross-country journey, immortalized in Travels With Charley.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Across Iowa
Saturday, May 04 2024
Clay, on his way to Sag Harbor, N.Y., travels through Iowa, home to the famous American painter Grant Wood and journalist William L. Shirer.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Underway! Sag Harbor, New York or Bust
Tuesday, April 30 2024
Clay leaves his home in Bismarck, North Dakota, and heads east on a circuitous route to Sag Harbor, New York, where John Steinbeck began his famous 1960 cross-country journey.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Shakedown Cruise: The Great Adventure Begins
Tuesday, April 23 2024
April is the cruelest month, says T.S. Eliot, perhaps because it brings you some false spring that often enough is put in its place by late blasts of winter. This is certainly true on the Great Plains. But I am leaving on my big John Steinbeck Travels with Charley Tour on April 27 …
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Solar Eclipse of 2024: A View From Chaco Canyon
Monday, April 15 2024
My friend Dennis and I had the good fortune to experience the solar eclipse of 2024 at Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. We could not have chosen a better place to observe the eclipse. Chaco Canyon is more than just another example of what used to be called Anasazi sites. It was designed from the beginning to serve as a lunar and solar “clock.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Witnessing the Astounding Diversity of America in 24 Hours
Monday, April 08 2024
A whirlwind journey takes Clay from Bismarck, N.D., to Brooklyn, N.Y., to Farmington, N.M. and a view of America’s extraordinary multiplicity.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road